2Cor10:5 - Taking Every Thought Captive

Church Leadership

Sit down and have a conversation with a cutting edge innovative church leader or church growth consultant and they will likely tell you how the church, just like businesses, need to constantly change and adapt to changing market conditions or they'll die. They might even make a snide comment about the importance of churches not being stuck in the 1950's or how churches can't do church the way they did when grandpa came home from WWII or they'll become irrelevant and die. But, talk to someone whose actually been to business school, like I have, and they'll readily tell you that this idea of 'change or die' is only true for certain types of businesses and is FAR from being universally true. In fact, the world of successful corporations is filled with companies that rarely change and rarely tinker with their business model. When these companies do make changes they are done in such a way as to stay true to how they've always done things. These are some of the world's most successful companies precisely because of their consistency. Here are just of few of them.

In-N-Out Burger

I grew up in southern California and every time I visit my old stomping grounds I make a trip to In-N-Out Burger. The menu is exactly the same today as it was when I was 15 years old, 20 years old, 33 years old, and 40 years old. In fact, if In-N-Out decided to change things up I seriously doubt that I'd continue to eat there when I visit So. Cal.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines is truly one of the most successful airlines in the world and they've achieved this success through a simple business model. They only fly 737's, they have 'open seating' and they don't utilize the traditional hub city model for their routes. This tenacity in sticking with their business model is what allows them to be a low cost airlines and maintain their profitability. If Southwest were to adopt the "change or die" mentality to their business it would destroy their brand and profits.

Nordstrom

Nordstrom is not a department store that caters to everyone. Instead, they've been tenacious in going after only one segment of the retail market and that segment is high price, high quality with a heavy emphasis on great customer service. If Nordstrom decided to go after the same market segment as Walmart they'd destroy their brand and their customer loyalty in a very short amount of time. The people who shop at Nordstrom expect great customer service, high quality high end products and they're willing and able to pay for them. Nordstrom hasn't changed the way it does business since coming on the scene 1901 and that is exactly why they're still in business today.

I can provide hundreds of more examples like these from the Fortune 1000. "Change or Die" is not true for an extremely large segment of the corporate world. Instead, these corporations are more akin to institutions and they're guiding principle is "steady as she goes". Even Apple, the innovative leader of personal technologies, is successful because of their tenacious fidelity to their core principles. If Apple ever deviates from those principles they will cease to be Apple and risk losing their leadership in the personal technology market.

Voodoo Church Consulting

Those church consultants who claim to be implementing the lessons that have been learned in the world of successful corporations, especially when it comes to the slogan "change or die" don't know what they're talking about! Over and again we've seen examples from the business world of companies that have thrived as a result of their refusal to change and insistence on tenaciously sticking to the core competencies and principles that make them distinct in the market.

Similarly, the church is an institution that must tenaciously pursue its mission and reject chasing after innovations that would distract her from what she's been called to do. In other words, the Church was given a mission 2,000 years ago and the mission hasn't changed and the same core activities and core competencies that were needed 2,000 years ago to fulfill the mission are needed today.

When we look at the scriptures we learn that churches are called to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name (Luke 24:46–47), make disciples of all nations...baptizing and teaching all that Christ has commanded (Matt 28:19–20), preach the word in season and out of season (2 Tim 4:1–4), contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3), feed Christ's sheep (John 21:15–17), teach sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it (Titus 1:9). These are the things that the church must excel in and accomplish with excellence and they're not optional. Yet, these are the very things that those churches who've adapted their methodologies and messages in order to meet the felt needs of the ever changing market have abandoned. Which then leads me to ask, "How can a church claim to be a church if it isn't doing the things that God has called her to do? Isn't that like an In-Out-Burger that refuses to sell Double-Doubles or a Norstrom's store that sells cheap low quality merchandise"?c

According to today’s new ‘Church Leadership’ standards Jesus was a clueless leader who obviously wasn't in tune with the 'worship experience' needs of His time and culture. Fact is, when you read the New Testament biographies you don’t read about Jesus discussing the latest leadership philosophies, the importance of vision casting, church branding strategies, church marketing practices or the latest ideas for designing and creating holistic audio visual environments to help create the perfect mood for people to have an engaging worship experience.

Instead, when you read the New Testament you discover that Jesus often taught outside and Jesus’ teaching events were far from seeker-sensitive. When you compare Jesus' leadership practices to the new and improved leadership principles of Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Leadership Network and others you'd have to conclude that Jesus was a complete failure as a leader and was in the dark when it came to meeting the felt needs of His target market.

A prime example of Jesus' utter cluelessness is found in the Gospel of Mark chapter 8. In the opening verses of that chapter we learn that Jesus held, for lack of a better term, a three day long “outdoor church conference” where He was the featured speaker. Here’s what Mark records about the event.

“In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” (Mark 8:1–3)

Yes, you read that correctly! Those who attended Jesus' three day long ‘outdoor church conference’ were outside, exposed to the sun, the wind and the elements. Oh and there was no food provided until the END of the event. What was Jesus thinking?!

Can you imagine the comments that Jesus and His disciples received in the customer satisfaction surveys after the event? I’m sure He got responses like the ones listed below.

Question: Were you satisfied with the location for this conference?

Answer: Are you kidding me?!? The Judean countryside is no place to hold a three day long church conference. Not only did I get a sunburn and a windburn, but the stench from 5,000 sweaty men being baked alive for three days totally ruined my ‘worship experience’.

Question: What did you think of Jesus' teaching?

Answer: First of all it’s difficult to listen to a man drone on and on and on for THREE DAYS without anything in your stomach. Why didn’t Jesus just keep His teaching down to 30 to 45 minutes? Seriously, how does Jesus expect us to remember all of that stuff? Laptops, the internet and Twitter haven’t even been invented yet and most of us are poor uneducated people and don’t have the resources to even take notes. It would have been way better if Jesus had passed around some handouts with fill in the blank sentences so that we could at least have some way of applying His relevant points to our lives and experience some ‘life change’. This was no way to motivate people to become world changers.

Question: What did you think of the food?

Answer: We were baking and starving in the sun for three days before the the first and only meal was served. Jesus waited until we were all ready to pass out from hunger and exposure before He decided to throw us a bone and miraculously divide up some bread and some fishes. Why did Jesus wait until the end of the conference to feed us? Why didn’t Jesus do that neat little miracle two or three times a day during the conference so that we didn’t have to listen to him on an empty stomach?

Question: What were your overall impressions of the conference and what would you like to see done differently at our future conferences?

Answer: Aside from the fact that I was hot, got sunburned, windburned, had to endure the smell of 5,000 sweaty Judean peasants while listening to a Bible teacher drone on for THREE DAYS without the ability to take notes or follow along on Powerpoint, with no porta potties and no food in an environment that is nearly impossible to have a descent worship experience...I thought the conference was a raging success (that was sarcasm). I’d rather be boiled in oil by the Romans than attend another outdoor teaching conference hosted by Jesus.

The way today’s Church Leadership Gurus talk you’d think that the New Testament was just brimming with Leadership wisdom ready to be picked and applied by today’s innovative visionary leaders. Yet, when I read the Gospel accounts, the leadership that Jesus modeled doesn’t even remotely look like the ‘new leadership’ that today’s gurus are selling. The reason for these differences is that Jesus' Leadership Model was never about customer satisfaction or positive customer experiences.

I know that I am running the risk of being branded as a "Leadership Heretic" but I think that there was something FAR MORE IMPORTANT happening at Jesus' three day long 'outdoor church conference' than religious consumers having their felt needs met or customers having a 'life changing experience'. The key to understanding what that "more important thing" was can be found in Matthew 4:4 which states:

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’””

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